Flywheel Sizing for a Human-Powered Potter's Kick Wheel: The Rim Mass That Holds Speed Within a Usable Band While Centring Clay
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This paper addresses potter's kick wheels that slow so quickly under the drag of centring clay that the potter must kick constantly and cannot keep both hands on the clay. It presents a flywheel rim-mass sizing rule based on stored kinetic energy and an allowable speed droop, derived entirely from stated assumptions and a computation whose code and full output accompany the paper. The sweep covers flywheel rim mass from 15 to 100 kg. The headline outcome is: lightest meeting x 35; droop at 15kg pct 49.7; droop at lightest ok pct 21.3; energy at 100kg j 809; energy at lightest ok j 283. These figures identify a specific operating point or bound that a workshop can apply directly, and they also show how quickly performance deteriorates away from it. No kiln was built, no ware was fired, and nothing was measured for this study. SIMULATED, NOT MEASURED.
Author: Aldred, William Alexander
Language: English
Subfield: Biomedical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225746512
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